The 24-Hour Challenge

[AndrewNC]

The Challenge - Give yourself 24 hours to accomplish the MOST IMPORTANT THING in your business. As soon as you finish that task, give yourself 24 hours to accomplish the MOST IMPORTANT THING in your business.


This thread is NOT about my progress..although I will post my results as motivation for others. Don't just read this- Post YOUR 24 hour challenge.

Day 1 -
I got rejected for a merchant account in August...It took me two months to get back and finish my application with Authorize.net. So last night at 4:43pm (Colorado Time) I gave myself 24 hours to finish that application.

I finished it in 30 minutes.

"Two months" worth of work done in 30 minutes?????

Success is NOT a matter of time. It is a matter of how many major obstacles you push through as quickly as possible.

How much can you get done if you realized this and took action NOW?

10/12/2014 at 4:43 PM - Day 1 started
10/13/2014 at 1:15 PM
“Thank you for contacting Authorize.Net, your application has been received. We will respond to your inquiry within 24 business hours. If you have an urgent need and would like to speak with a sales representative today, please call us at 866-437-0476. The sales office hours are Monday – Friday, 6 AM – 6 PM Mountain time”

Day 1 Lesson to myself - I emailed the rep from Authorize.net and he was out of the office. I called the number in the email..the office was closed for the holiday.

I went online and did it all myself. Don't let obstacles get in the way and DELAY me..push through them now.

 

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[AndrewNC]

Template that I use personally:

Start Time:
Deadline Time:
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours:
Punishment if I don't do it:
Reward if I do:
Accountability Partner:

 

[AndrewNC]

Day 2 -

Start Time: 10/13/2014 1:36 pm
Deadline Time: 10/14/2014 1:36 pm
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Edit the rest of my book based on the feedback after my first 500 readers (81 pages edited, 125 more to go).

Punishment if I don't - I don't see success faster.
Reward if I do - Success
Accountability Partner - @Kernicles

 

[csalvato]

I adopted a method similar to this a few years ago after reading 4HWW (don't crucify me!)

Ferriss said in one section that you should write on a piece of paper the three things you will get done each day. One of them should be one thing that could absolutely change everything (what sounds like the most important thing for your business).

Since then, I have adopted this methodology, and have seen it turn up when I hear multi-millionaire entrepreneurs like Jo Malone and Emma Bridgewater talk.

Here's mine for the next 24 hours:

Start Time: 2014-10-13 8:42 PM BST
Deadline Time: 8:42 PM BST 2014-10-14
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Complete another 100 pages in Think and Grow Rich
Punishment if I don't do it: No sleep until it's done.
Reward if I do: Sleep
Accountability Partner: Wife.

 

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[Guest3722A]

I'm in.

In the next 24 hours:

Start Time: 10.13.14 4:06 pm est
End Time: 10.14.14 4:06 pm est
Most Important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Open basic level Ebay store, and list the remaining items I have photographed
Reward if I do: The ability to move forward
Punishment if I don't: Being stuck in life
Accountability partner: None


Tonight I have my first Ebay think tank meeting.

 

[theag]

Start Time: 9:30am CET
Deadline Time: 9:30 CET
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Fill out and mail/fax ALL documents for my payment processor
Punishment if I don't do it: Unpaid orders, lol
Reward if I do: Easier payments for my customers mean more money for me
Accountability Partner: Business bank account

 

[Guest3722A]

I was able to finish yesterday's work this morning at around a little after 7.

Day 2

Start Time: 10.14.14 1:56
Deadline Time: 10.15.14 1:56
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Photograph the rest of my inventory.
Punishment if I don't do it: I won't be able to move forward
Reward if I do: The ability to list everything
Accountability Partner: None


Yesterday's ebay meetup wasn't bad. I learned some things.

 

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[Logan.H]

Day 1

Start Time: 10/14/14 15:06 EST
Deadline Time: 10/15/14 15:06 EST
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Map out the wealthy/middle class neighborhoods
Punishment if I don't do it: not enough funds to go places
Reward if I do: move forward with my plan
Accountability Partner: none

 

[AndrewNC]

What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Edit the rest of my book based on the feedback after my first 500 readers (81 pages edited, 125 more to go).

Finished this yesterday, didnt post the update

Day 3 - Update 3 websites for my business by 1:30pm on 10/15

 

[Guest3722A]

Complete another 100 pages in Think and Grow Rich

I'm not sure if you would find this interesting, but in reference to Napoleon Hill, I posted this a few years back. Its a bunch of youtube videos that Napoleon himself did, discussing the principles he outlined in his book.

Also, youtube has the entire Think and Grow Rich audiobook, free of charge. Not sure if that would help, but for me, sometimes I'm better with audiobooks!!

Edit: I just checked those links and they're not active anymore, but this should work.

 

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[theag]

Start Time: 9:30am CET
Deadline Time: 9:30 CET
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Fill out and mail/fax ALL documents for my payment processor
Punishment if I don't do it: Unpaid orders, lol
Reward if I do: Easier payments for my customers mean more money for me
Accountability Partner: Business bank account

So, it took me 8 hours longer because I had to discuss some technical stuff for automation with my bank, but everything is sent out now.

Bonus: bought a magento module including installation and css theme package that I'll need on the last day of their promotion and saved $$$

Next:

Start Time: 6pm CET, 10/15/14
Deadline Time: 6pm CET, 10/16/14
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Create a project description to migrate my custom shopping cart to a magento backend
Reward if I do: Can use my payment processors pre-built payment module and use my accounting software's automatic integration, etc
Punishment if I don't do it: Hard for people to pay me, accountant will kick my a$$, tax authority will kick my a$$, etc
Accountability Partner: me

 

[Ninjakid]

challenge accepted

 

[Logan.H]

Day 2

Start Time: 10/15/14 15:00:00 EST
Deadline Time: 10/16/14 15:00:00 EST
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: print out 500 pieces of my ad thing
Punishment if I don't do it: can't move forward
Reward if I do: feeling of getting something done
Accountability Partner: none

 

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[Guest3722A]

Day 3 of 365

Start Time: 10.15.14 3:20
Deadline Time: 10.16.14 3:20
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Upload all photos to my ebay account, and list.
Punishment if I don't do it: I'll be backed up because I've got more inventory coming on Friday
Reward if I do: Satisfaction of getting closer to my goal of having 100 things listed
Accountability Partner: None

*A few of my items weren't up to standard so they'll be sent to be brought up this weekend.
*My second ebay account had its first refund request due to it being an international buyer from S. Korea. Glad I didn't mail this $500 item yet. I still need to get on the phone to see what my rights are because it was an auction and he was well aware of the international shipping policy. I do have a partner though and he may have already refunded the buyer's money. The plus side is I don't have to run across town to set up another kit to take photos. I will also be contacting the second highest bidder.

 

[Guest3722A]

Day 4 of 365

Start Time: 10.16.14 12:30pm est
Deadline Time: 10.17.14 12:30pm est
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Determine how to control the sales process through split tests on my copy.
Punishment if I don't do it: It will take longer to get my first sale.
Reward if I do: Getting closer to the sweet-spot
Accountability Partner: None

 

[Guest3722A]

Day 5 of 365

(With all due respect, I'm gonna finish this)

the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: List all of my items that I have on Ebay in a second place. Need to get a sale no matter how or where. Also signed up for an Amazon account and learning about fba.

 

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[AndrewNC]

Everyone staying strong? I havent been on the forum lately to update the posts, but still pushing forward meeting my goals.

In 24 hours, I have to finish this new product that i'm building

 

[Guest3722A]

Day 6 of 365


the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: The next 24 will be dedicated to learning how to get a sale in this category my 2nd partner and I entered.

Tomorrow (or this eve) we have a meeting where we're going to discuss where we're at right now, and how to break through this sticking point of getting the first sale.
-----------------------------------
My 1st partner and I have sold everything we've listed immediately for a decent margin and we're now discussing ways to scale this up a bit. This is also part of the learning/research I'll be doing over the next 24

 

[Mohammed Hamza]

Start Time : 12:00 pm IST 19/10/2014
Deadline Time : 12:00pm IST 20/10/2014
Most Important thing : Complete the full chapter on integration.
Punishment if I don't do it : I will not do well in my board exams
Reward if I do : I will feel confident to ace the exams
Accountability Partner : AndrewNC

 

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[smarty]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - I feel like screaming so loud right now. My @$$ is on fire. This is how I feel when I know I'm doing good progress

In the last 6-7 hours I've been working on a new Premium Wordress Plugin that I'm building. When I stay focused on a single thing for that long, I usually enter the focus flow and then nothing outside distracts me and no obstacle is too hard to overcome!

DAY 1:

So for the next 24 hours:

Start Time: 18:00 CET 19/10/2014
Deadline Time: 18:00 CET 20/10/2014
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Finishing a basic version of my Plugin's Options page.
Punishment if I don't do it: (short term) Shitty feeling and GUILT - (long term) waste of life and probably 9-5 job slavery
Reward if I do: Sexy feeling for killing the doubts and creating VALUE in the world. Getting closer to the launch day.
Accountability Partner: Myself and YOU.

Let's do it!

 

[theag]

So, it took me 8 hours longer because I had to discuss some technical stuff for automation with my bank, but everything is sent out now.

Bonus: bought a magento module including installation and css theme package that I'll need on the last day of their promotion and saved $$$

Next:

Start Time: 6pm CET, 10/15/14
Deadline Time: 6pm CET, 10/16/14
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: Create a project description to migrate my custom shopping cart to a magento backend
Reward if I do: Can use my payment processors pre-built payment module and use my accounting software's automatic integration, etc
Punishment if I don't do it: Hard for people to pay me, accountant will kick my a$$, tax authority will kick my a$$, etc
Accountability Partner: me

Wrote up 30% of the description and called a magento agency, then figured out that its easier to build this myself. So I set up magento on friday and did 90% of the frontend work yesterday. Connecting my custom process to the magento backend will probably take a few more hours. So I saved 1-2k € on this which instead will go towards paying setup fees with a big league merchant account provider, setup costs with my new manufacturer and a couple of paid magento modules and other SaaS software I need.

Had an ephiphany on friday: its possible to 100% automate my business (except marketing, which I want to do myself). So I'll basically just do media buying, partnerships, offline distributon and conversion/funnel optimization and all of the fulfillment stuff I wont have to worry about. My goal is to have everything set up until the end of the year. All of the above is a result of that ephiphany. So excited

Goal for the next 24-36hours: Finish magento migration.

On another note: meeting with my accountant/tax advisor on Thursday. Not looking forward to setting up all of that. Still have to do the company taxes for 2013, but had 0 revenue so will be a breeze hopefully haha. Well, the joys of running your own business..

 

[Guest3722A]

Day 7 of 365

Alright, yesterday I feel like I slacked a bit but I dunno, sometimes just reading around on this forum has a way of leading to possible solutions that I take with me to ponder as I sit in my yeep and drink damn good coffee. And believe it or not, I think I learned something as I was going through the Red Dress Botique social media stuff... so hmmmm. I've also gone through the fba videos and thought about how I could make my thing workable with Amazon.

Anyway, next 24 hours I'm meeting up w/ my partner to get the rest of my inventory up to standard so I can list it. Once listed I will be 1/3ish of the way to my goal of having 100 things listed.

 

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[Guest3722A]

Day 8 of 365

Cah-ching!!!
Someone made an offer on one of our items. We countered. Waiting to hear back if accepted or not, but the real value to me is focusing on the copy that got us to this point. The title of the listing. The item. The photos, etc. Its only been just over a week anyway and we just got our first offer. My phone still made the cash register sound tho lol. (and our margin would've been around 200% after shipping/fees if we took it, but, we're holding out)

Anyway, next 24 - focus in on adjustments to the copy on similar items, and switch a few of the items to auction because the reality is we need to get some reviews.
_____________________________________________________
Also, I'm mailing the other item out tomorrow as ebay advised us to complete the transaction. AND we also sold a second item I'm mailing out tomorrow. This second item was sourced from china and sales took a while but they're starting to pick up! We actually branded this item too!

 

[AndrewNC]

Something interesting happened since I started doing this:

Before: I used to set specific work hours each day, and then have free time outside of that, often times not getting as much done as I wanted.

Now: I feel like I have to force myself to give myself time off. I'm allocating an hour to get away from work to go to the store...and it feels like work is my default state.

All about working in the now.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[smarty]

Day 1 CLEAR!
Actually I exceeded my expectations, the plugin is almost fully functional now. Need to set a few more things right.

DAY 2:
So for the next 24 hours:

Start Time: 00:00 CET 21/October/2014 (Tuesday)
Deadline Time: 23:59 CET 21/October/2014
What is the MOST important thing I have to get done in 24 hours: (1) Making optin form work properly. (2) Extend the plugin class so the user will be able to choose between different templates. Only 1 template for now though. More plugin templates ONLY after launch.
Punishment if I don't do it: (short term) Shitty feeling and GUILT - (long term) waste of life and probably 9-5 job slavery
Reward if I do: Sexy feeling for killing the doubts and creating VALUE in the world. Getting closer to the launch day.
Accountability Partner: Myself and YOU.

Let's DO it!

 

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[Guest3722A]

Something interesting happened since I started doing this:

Before: I used to set specific work hours each day, and then have free time outside of that, often times not getting as much done as I wanted.

Now: I feel like I have to force myself to give myself time off. I'm allocating an hour to get away from work to go to the store...and it feels like work is my default state.

All about working in the now.

Anyone else experience this?

Every waking moment of my life is related to finding success (once again). I take breaks to clear my mind. But my mind doesn't want to leave. I even try to get to a theatre to see a movie every now and then, but find myself wanting to leave part way through. I can't focus on that stuff for very long (anymore). Even when I get a girlfriend its the same thing - business business business. Honestly, I think this is something I need to work on. But, after I get a sale!

“If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is.” ~Unknown

 

[smarty]

I take breaks to clear my mind. But my mind doesn't want to leave.

A Buddhist quote says "The human mind is like a drunk + crazy monkey + that's been stung by a scorpion". It's always running around

 

[theag]

Every waking moment of my life is related to finding success

 

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[Guest3722A]

Day 9 of 365 Sold items have been mailed. Have been looking into poly urethane knucks as an additional item partner 1 and I can manufacture and list

In the next 24 hours I'm going to start a social medial campaign and open accounts and begin posting on twitter, fb, pinterest and the other one (can't remember the name offhand).

 

[Davo]

In the next 24 hours I'm going to start a social medial campaign and open accounts and begin posting on twitter, fb, pinterest and the other one (can't remember the name offhand).

Instagram?
For this type of product, I'd focus less on twitter and pinterest and more on instagram